


it's a crowd

by thisstableground



Series: Main Timeline ITH Fics [3]
Category: In the Heights - Miranda
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-12
Updated: 2019-01-12
Packaged: 2019-10-09 02:37:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17398418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thisstableground/pseuds/thisstableground
Summary: Benny and Usnavi are basically joined at the hip, until a new baby cousin gets in the way.[Or, eight-year-old Benny and Usnavi's first argument.]





	it's a crowd

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kikabennet](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kikabennet/gifts).



> a headcanon i had in a discussion with kikabennet in the comments of [chapter 14](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13896936/chapters/40893032) of live life and survive it, she said she wanted to read it so i wrote it. it's that easy to make me do things, folks. a few of the side characters might make more sense if you read [rise to me](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15192683/chapters/35235254) first, but it's not hugely necessary.

Even though he’d insisted to his mom that he’d hate it forever, Benny’s gotta admit he kinda likes his new school. It ain’t so different from his old one, all run-down and noisy and overcrowded, but it seems easier, somehow. Maybe Benny’s different. He wasn’t ever a bad kid, he don’t think. Just sometimes he ended up doing bad stuff, because you gotta set up a reputation, or because everyone else is doing it and you don’t wanna be the only one left out, or because you don't even know it's bad till consequences happen.

The first people he ended up hanging out with at his new school, Stevie and Lucas, definitely have a reputation. They’re cool kids, tough kids, kids you only hang out with because it’s easier than being on their bad side, not really because you like them. Benny thinks that if he’d gone off with them after Usnavi fell out that tree instead of staying to help, that woulda been who he ended up being at this school. He nearly did run away, as well, but there had been a second after that horrible _crunch_ noise when Usnavi hit the ground when Benny had genuinely thought “holy crap, we killed him”. He was so relieved when it turns out they didn’t that he _had_ to stay and make sure Usnavi didn’t die like five minutes later just to stop himself feeling so sick about it. Though he also felt pretty sick about explaining to the De la Vegas, and about the disappointed-but-not-surprised look on his mom’s face when Mr De la Vega took him home and told her what happened, even though Mr De la Vega was real nice about it for saying that Benny sorta almost killed his kid earlier.

He felt sick again on the first day Usnavi came into school with his cast, when Stevie had asked to sign it "to say sorry" but then wrote SNITCH in big ugly letters. Usnavi tried to laugh it off, with tears in his eyes. Benny had seen red, lifted Stevie right up by his jacket to slam him against the wall, and said loud enough for everyone to hear that _he_ was the one what told what really happened because it was him and Stevie and Lucas who got Usnavi’s wrist broke in the first place - that got a quiet gasp from the gathered crowd - and if anyone’s got a problem they can take it up with Benny.

Everyone, and especially Stevie, had very quickly agreed that nobody had a problem, and then Benny had given Amber a whole dollar for a sheet of the holographic spaceship stickers she always has in her bag, so they could use them to cover up Stevie’s writing on Usnavi’s cast. Usnavi had looked at him with eyes as shiny as the stickers, like Benny was Superman or something. Then he followed Benny around religiously for the next two weeks and kept offering him parts of his lunch or strange spicy-sour candy from his parent’s store, chattering constantly the whole time. 

Since then Benny's noticed other smaller or younger or odder kids gravitate near him too every now and then. Somehow sticking up for Usnavi meant he got a reputation at this school as the kinda person who looks out for people who can’t look out for themselves. One of the good guys.  Benny really likes being one of the good guys. And he really likes Usnavi, too. Most everyone likes Usnavi alright because he’s so friendly, but he’s not who you hang out with full-time if you want any street cred. Usnavi’s one of the weird kids. He’s kind of a dork, kind of doesn’t make sense a lot of the time, talks like he’s always having six different conversations with six people at once. Benny only meant to hang around with him long enough to make sure nobody was gonna give him shit, and in the process found out that Usnavi is really funny, and he’s fun, and he’s smart in his own way even though he don’t get good grades, but he thinks quicker than anyone Benny’s ever known. Usnavi likes singing and laughing and playing make-believe games. Usnavi listens to Benny raptly about almost everything and says Benny’s the coolest person he’s ever met, but sometimes Benny says “that’s nerdy” or “people will think we’re lame” and Usnavi says, “so?” like he really don’t know why it matters. It makes Benny wonder why it matters, too, because very often Usnavi’s right: things are more fun his way. Things are easier.

It still ain’t always perfect at school. He still gets in trouble a lot, but it’s different trouble, the kind that makes his mom roll her eyes and say “you see all these gray hairs you give me?” pointing at her still jet-black hair. Not the kind that makes her cry and say “Benny, I don’t know what to do with you any more, I just don’t know what else I can do.” 

Sometimes he misses being cool. He don’t miss his mom crying, though, or both of them feeling angry or scared all the time. Besides, he has a best friend now, officially, and nothing’s ever gonna get in between them.

And then Usnavi gets a baby cousin.

***

Benny ain’t much one for little kids. His auntie in Illinois had a baby last year and Benny held her for a while when they went there for Thanksgiving. It was fine, but he was pretty happy to give her back after a couple minutes and go do something more exciting. Some people are just more into babies, and Usnavi’s family are so close, so it makes sense he’s pretty excited when his cousin is born. It’s okay to hear about for a bit until Usnavi just ends up repeating himself because it ain’t like there’s that much new to say, but Benny figures with Usnavi’s attention span he’ll move onto the next thing soon enough.

He doesn’t. Literally for two whole months all Benny every hears about is my cousin this, my cousin that, and it _sucks_. Benny’s never minded that Usnavi don’t pick up on all the secret rules of talking to people as fast as everyone else, but now it’s an issue. All his sighs or short, one-word answers that are clearly supposed to mean “I want to stop talking about this” don’t register, so Benny’s stuck hearing about boring baby Sonny and how to prepare his boring bottle and his boring tiny little hands and toes all day every day. Whenever he tries to talk about something fun like the new CDs his cousin from Queens picked up this week that he’s gonna sell to Benny at discount or what they should go as for Halloween or how gross teacher coffee-breath is when you’re getting yelled at, Usnavi tries to talk along for like two minutes before inevitably going “that reminds me of a thing Sonny did yesterday—“.

So Benny’s already out of his mind done with hearing about Sonny and then on Friday when they’re packing up their school bags about to walk home together, he asks Usnavi what movie he wants to watch round his place on Sunday. Usnavi makes an _oops_ face and says, “oh, um, I forgot we was doin’ that, I actually said I’d go to Tío Miguel’s on Sunday, ‘cause Sonny is—“

“But you always come to my place on Sundays,” Benny interrupts. He don’t care what Sonny is. They always have plans. Usnavi does things the exact same thing every single week: he spends weekend mornings with his abuela and Saturday afternoon with whichever one of his parents is taking the day off, or sometimes both of them if the store’s had a good week. And on Sunday afternoons he comes to Benny’s and his mom makes lunch. Then they play videogames or if it’s nice out they go to the park, or sometimes they go to the park even if it’s not nice out because Benny’s mom says they got too much energy and they’ll bring the whole apartment building down if they don’t use some of it up, rain or no. The only times that don’t happen is if Benny is out of town or if one of them is sick.

“I forgot,” Usnavi says again. “We can still hang out though. You can come to Tío Miguel’s with me and meet Sonny!”

That sounds like the worst way to spend a Sunday. “I don’t wanna meet Sonny.”

Usnavi looks utterly bewildered. “What? Why not? He’s the best.”

All Benny’s frustration from the past two months finally spills over. “Well, I don’t think he’s the best! I think he’s _boring._ And stupid.”

Usnavi flushes bright red, clenching his fists. “You shut up talkin’ about my cousin like that!”

“ _You_ shut up talkin’ about him! I’m sick of hearin’ it! You don’t talk about nothin’ else no more and now you’re ditchin’ me when you’re meant to be _my_ best friend!”

“If you was really my best friend you wouldn’t be sayin’ shit about Sonny.”

“Well, if you was mine you’d wanna hang out and play and talk about fun stuff like proper friends do instead of bein’ so gaga about _babies_ ,” Benny retorts. “You enjoy bein’ Sonny’s mommy, I’m gonna go be friends with someone  _normal.”_

Usnavi gives him a strange, blank look for the longest time, then just picks up his backpack and walks off without saying anything, even though he ain’t supposed to walk home by himself. Benny stands in the emptying classroom, heart going at lightspeed, and wonders what to do now.

***

He don’t wanna tell his mom they had a fight, so on Sunday when Usnavi’s supposed to be coming over Benny pretends like he’s going to meet him at the store instead and ends up at the basketball court, shooting hoops by himself at one end while a bunch of kids idly bounce-pass to each other at the other, until a stray ball from their game rolls up right next to him.

“Sorry, man.” A kid who he recognises from two grades above jogs up to collect it. Benny nudges it back with his toe and sinks another basket easily with his own ball. “Hey, you’re pretty good. Wanna come play with us? We’ll have enough for teams if you join in.”

“Sure,” Benny says. He ends up playing all afternoon, bringing his most show-offy game to make sure everyone knows he’s good at this. He can't do that with Usnavi, because Usnavi sucks at basketball. He prefers playing on the swings, which is what little kids do, not eight year olds. Really this whole fight is for the best. Now Benny can just get back to being himself instead of wasting time with someone who can't even do a jump shot.

***

At recess on Monday, Benny ain’t sure at first where to go. Usnavi’s a few feet ahead as they all pour outside. He’s talking to a few of their classmates, who all laugh at whatever he says, and Benny gets a sour feeling in his stomach. Usnavi knows everyone in this school already. Benny knows a lot of people too, but he ain’t put much effort into finding himself a clique, which he’s regretting now.

He’s only been out there a couple minutes when Kenji from basketball the other day yells, “yo, Benny, over here!”

Benny waves and goes over to meet him. See? He don’t need Usnavi to have friends. Except as he approaches, Benny realises that among the faces he can see are Lucas and Stevie, both watching him with their arms folded.

“What are you doin’ hangin’ out with _them_?” Benny asks Kenji, quietly. He’d thought these guys were okay, but they obviously got pretty bad taste in friends if this is who they let in.

“Oh, uh, they're not so bad,” Kenji says, looking uncomfortable. Probably knows they’re assholes and just don’t wanna say it.

“They made Usnavi break his wrist,” Benny points out.

“Yeah, but Lucas says that’s Usnavi's fault really, 'cause he sucks at climbin’ trees, and he shoulda just said he couldn’t do it and then they wouldn’t of told him to.”

“But—“

“Anyway, I thought you two aren't friends any more, so you can come hang out with us and it doesn’t matter, right?”

Benny hesitates. The focus of his gaze shifts to where Usnavi’s standing not far off: the little crowd he was with has moved in that way a circle sometimes does where it means someone gets blocked out, not on purpose but because they’re too small and accidentally get pushed to the outside. Usnavi’s flitting round the edges trying to find a gap to work his way into. He glances over their way, then stops in his tracks, staring at Benny and the group he’s about to join.

It’d be really good revenge, Benny thinks, if he made friends with the two guys that dislike Usnavi the most.

“You comin' or not?” Kenji says impatiently.

Benny shakes himself out of distraction. “Uh, thanks, nah, maybe tomorrow. I got stuff I gotta be doin’ today.”

**

Stupid choice. Obviously Benny don’t have nothing else to do and now he’s lost his best shot at getting back on track with being cool again, he shoulda just gone with it. Ain’t like its his responsibility to look after Usnavi no more, or to look after nobody but himself. Only he couldn’t shake thinking that how Stevie and Lucas treated Usnavi, that wasn’t right. Not just the tree thing but all the rest of it before that, how they’d pretend to be his friend just so they could make him the butt of the joke, taking his stuff or moving his chair out from under him when he stood up so that he’d fall when he sat back down or telling him to do crazy stuff so they could laugh at him. They’re like that with anyone who they think’s an easy mark, and Usnavi’s practically walking around wearing a target on his back. Benny never called them out before, but seems harder now to just go along with it, even if not doing that means Benny's stuck all by himself. He goes round the corner, on the other side of the building from where he usually hangs out, and is stomping around brooding about how much harder it is to be one of the good guys when he almost trips over a girl sitting on the bottom step. She drops the book she’s reading in surprise and stands quickly to get out of his way.

“Oh, oops, sorry,” he says.

“S’okay, she says, in the tiniest squeak of a voice. A much louder voice from higher up says “how about you watch where you’re puttin’ your big dumb feet next time?”, as a small girl in tiny pigtails jumps down from where she was sitting up on the wall and pokes a finger accusingly into Benny's chest.

It’s Vanessa Garcia. Everyone knows Vanessa García. Last month during lunch she smashed Zeke’s face right into his gross cafeteria spaghetti because he kept tugging on her pigtails. He started crying, then when a teacher came over to take Vanessa to the principal’s office she ran away from her back to the table just to squirt her milk carton in Zeke’s spaghetti-covered face as one last insult, then she got sent home for the rest of the day and became a minor school celebrity because of it for two whole weeks. She’s only seven and very short, but nobody messes with Vanessa just like nobody messes with Benny. 

Belatedly, Benny recognises the other girl too, with her mass of uncontrolled ringlets and her little nervous-mouse face. He picks up her book off the floor and hands it back to her. “You’re Nina, right? I seen you in the bodega sometimes. I’m Benny.”

Nina nods, taking the book and clutching it protectively to her chest. “I know. You’re Usnavi’s friend.”

Suddenly Benny feels very melancholy. He sits down on the steps and sighs heavily. “Not no more. We had a fight.”

“Oh.” Nina sits next to him. “That’s sad. How come?”

“All he talked about any more is that baby cousin of his and he’s with him all the time instead of doin' cool stuff like sleepovers so he don’t hang out with me. I don’t care, really. Who needs him?”

Nina asks, “are you gonna start saying mean things behind his back now you aren’t friends with him like how Stevie and Lucas do?”, warily.

Benny frowns. He thought he’d warned those two jerks off. “They been sayin’ stuff? Like what?”

“I’m not supposed to say the word,” Nina says. “I told my mom and she said I shouldn’t say it and that I gotta tell her if they keep saying it because it’s a bad word to call someone.”

“Usnavi woulda told me if they said that to him.”

“Prob’ly they ain’t gonna say it _to_ him, ‘cause they’re scared of you,” Vanessa says. “Everyone knows that. They just say it to everyone else. After we heard ‘em I went up and told ‘em I was gonna tell you and they nearly wet their pants. I like Usnavi,” she adds, challenge in her voice daring Benny to disagree. “You can’t be mean to him, because he don’t understand it so it ain’t fair.”

“We’ve knew him since forever,” Nina says. “He’s nice.”

“Well, I ain’t no bully, or a pussy like Stevie and Lucas, so I ain’t gonna.”

Nina squints at him, then looks at Vanessa questioningly like she’s waiting for something. Vanessa nods a confirmation and says to Benny, “babies _are_ boring.”

“I know.”

“You can hang out with us today, if you want.”

Benny isn’t too sure about hanging out with a couple of girls, especially not ones a whole grade younger than him. The kids at his old school would laugh him right out of town.  And especially not girls who are friends with Usnavi, since it seems pretty clear that if they have to pick a side they’ll pick his. But they don’t seem to mind Benny being there, and Vanessa’s pretty funny, and Nina’s real shy but as she warms up a bit she tells him all kinds of crazy, interesting facts. It’s not as good as hanging out with Usnavi, but he comes back on Tuesday anyway, and Wednesday too.

***

His mom is rushing around as soon as he gets home on Wednesday, flustered because she just got called into work. “I won’t be back til eleven. Oh! Honey, can you go call Rosa, see if the De la Vegas are okay to take you for the night?”

Call Usnavi’s mom and spend the whole evening there? No thanks. “I can stay here by myself.”

Mom stops to give him a skeptical look. “And you think I wanna come home to find this whole place burnt to a crisp and the cops on the doorstep? Nuh-uh.”

“I ain’t gonna _do_ nothin’! I stayed at home by myself before.”

“Yes, but this is gonna be til late. What’s the problem, now, usually I ain't see you for more than two seconds of the day before you’re runnin’ off with Usnavi, and all of a sudden you’re wantin’ to stay home?”

“Me and Usnavi ain’t friends no more,” Benny admits reluctantly. 

His mom pats his shoulder. “Did you two have a fight?Don’t you worry about it, when I take you round there tonight you tell him you’re sorry and that’ll make things okay.”

“Why’s it gotta be _my_ fault?” Benny says. “You ain’t even know what happened. Maybe he should apologize to me.” 

It’s Usnavi who ditched him first, after all. Although then Benny did say that thing about Usnavi not being normal, which he feels real bad about after the fact, and he maybe coulda been nicer about asking Usnavi to talk about Sonny less, but it still ain’t _all_ his fault so how’s it fair that his mom assumes it is?

“Well, you know I’m just tryna look out for you, baby,” Mom says. “You two are such good friends, don’t go throwin’ it away on a silly disagreement.”

“I don’t wanna go to Usnavi’s,” he says stubbornly, and she sighs.

“Well, we gotta put you somewhere,” she says, so she makes a couple phone calls and that’s how Benny ends up at Usnavi’s Abuela Claudia’s.

***

“Thanks for takin’ him such late notice,” Mom says, then kisses Benny on the cheek. “Benny, you behave yourself, you hear me? Don’t go causin’ no trouble. And remember your manners!” 

She waves as she leaves, and Claudia shows Benny inside her little apartment. It’s strange to be here without Usnavi, with a lady who he knows is very nice but who he barely knows, really.

“Thanks for having me, um—“ he stops, because it feels wrong to call a grownup just by her first name but he just realised he don’t actually know her last name.

“Call me Abuela, everybody does,” she says, but that seems weird too so Benny just resolves to not call her anything. “And it’s no problem, what’s one more boy to keep track of?”

“What?” Benny says, filling with dread. Is Usnavi here? His mom had promised that Abuela said he wasn’t. There’s a sudden siren-wail of a cry from the corner of the living room and Benny finally notices the carrier seat and realises it’s even worse: _Sonny_ is here.

“Ay, he’s a noisy one just like his cousin,” Abuela sighs, unbuckling the seatbelt in the carrier. “Still awake all through the night, I’ve got him for the evening so his parents can finally get some sleep. Lay that mat out for me, he’s probably had enough of being in that carrier.”

She's pointing at a rolled-up piece of cloth poking out of a side-pocket of a big black bag. It's covered in pictures of animals, and he can see where the print's a little faded in the middle when he unrolls it. He lays it on the floor while Abuela fusses and shushes Sonny. Once the piercing shriek goes calmer she lays the baby belly-down on the mat, where he makes a few extra grumbling noises but seems to settle into his new surroundings pretty fast.

“¡Mucho mejor! He just wanted some room to move around.” Abuela gets up from the floor slowly, with a small groan as she straightens her hunched-over back, then gives another little sigh of relief as she sits in the armchair. “So, Benny! I don’t usually get visits from you without Usnavi here.”

Benny lifts and drops one shoulder noncommittally.

“Ah, claro, Usnavi said you two had a falling out.”

“It wasn’t just only my fault,” Benny says. Usnavi’s Abuela’s favorite even though he ain’t really her grandson, that’s common knowledge, so obviously she ain’t gonna care about Benny’s side of things, but Benny’s tough and he’ll stand his ground on this anyway. “I _ain’t_ gonna apologize to him.”

“Did I say you had to?” Abuela asks mildly.

“Mom thinks I should. And Nina and Vanessa thought I was gonna be a jerk to him. Everyone thinks I’m always the one gettin’ in trouble or doin’ things wrong.”

“You disagree, yes?”

“Yes! It was his fault. Or, well, maybe a _bit_ my fault but all he talks about is the baby,” Benny takes a deep angry breath. “He even forgot we was supposed to hang out because of _him_. And everyone still thinks he ain’t never wrong about nothin’, just ‘cause he’s from round here and knew everyone from since he was born and everyone knows his mom and dad, so everyone’s on his side. But that ain’t fair! Nobody knew me that long so ain’t nobody gonna be on my side.”

He goes hot with embarrassment when he finishes. He didn’t mean to really tell her none of that, but it’s been burning around inside his stomach all week just waiting for a chance to get out.

“Hmm,” Abuela Claudia says. “Well, we have not spent much time together, but I know that you’re a kind young man, and that you try to do the right thing, so I am certain you and Usnavi will find a way to work things out in the end, and nobody will need to take sides after all.”

“You don’t know me.”

“No, but I hear a lot about you from someone who cares about you very much. He talks about you all the time, in fact.” She gives Benny a gentle smile. “I won’t tell you to apologize, but you should at least know that Usnavi misses you. He’s been moping about it all week.”

Benny scowls tearfully down at the floor. “He don’t miss me. He’s got Sonny now.”

“And he loves Sonny a lot. But there’s plenty of things that Sonny isn’t but Benny is, no?” There’s a chirping sort of gurgle from Sonny on the floor. “Ah, sounds like someone’s ears were burning.” Abuela checks the big wall clock. “Sí, of course, it’s his dinner time. Keep an eye on him while I get him his biberón, por favor.”

“What, but I don’t know how to—“

“¡Gracias, eres un buen chico!” she calls over her shoulder, already shuffling into the kitchen and leaving Benny watching the baby. Sonny keeps lifting his head a little then laying back down like it’s too much work to keep it up for more than a second, and ruffling the mat under his with his hands. Benny lies down on his tummy too, with one cheek on the floor so he can look right at Sonny, and says “this is all your fault.”

Sonny does a spit-bubble at him. It’s definitely an insult.

“I was friends with Usnavi first. And I’m better at it. What’s so fun about a baby? It ain’t like you can do nothin’, you can’t even talk.”

“Gglrgl,” Sonny says, clearly disagreeing.

“Okay, but that don’t count.”

“Bllrb.”

“You ain’t gonna talk me round, man.”

“Guh.” Sonny waves an arm haphazardly in Benny’s direction.

“Guh,” Benny says back, waving too. It is _kinda_ fun, he admits, listening to all the strange little baby noises and pretending like it’s a real conversation. Maybe that’s why Usnavi likes Sonny so much: he can just talk and talk without having to really say anything or worry about making sense. That’s definitely Usnavi’s style. Benny picks up a flat little bear toy out of Sonny’s carseat - it has that strange crinkly texture that makes noises when you squash it - and puts it by Sonny’s hand. Sonny just drools at it. “Jeez, you can’t even play with toys. Here, like this.”

He puts the bear in Sonny’s hand and gently presses his fingers for him so they crunch the material properly. Sonny blows a raspberry, which Benny takes to be approval. He finds himself laughing and doing it again trying to get the same reaction and it’s right at that moment that the apartment door bursts open, Usnavi entering like a hurricane.

“¡Abuela! Pai said that Sonny is h— _Benny_?”

“That’s me,” Benny says, because he don’t know what else to say. Now would be a great time for abuela to come back in and break the tension but she doesn’t so he’s just lying on the floor awkwardly with a baby next to him and his ex-best friend staring at him like he’s an alien just beamed in from space.He realizes he’s still holding the bear and drops it hurriedly. “My mom’s at work tonight.”

“Oh,” Usnavi says. “Usually you come to my place if your mom’s at work.”

“Yeah, well, usually you hang out with me after school instead of spendin’ all your time with him,” Benny says, bitterly. 

Usnavi’s bottom lip does a sudden sticky-out pout just for a second like he’s about to cry, then his expression goes hard and he hefts Sonny up into his arms with a surprising amount of confidence for someone who Benny has watched instantly drop every ball he’s ever been passed. ”I guess me and Sonny will go over here and you can go do somethin' fun all by _yourself_ , then.”

“I will!” Benny goes to th opposite end of the room as them and ends up just facing the wall, frowning as hard as he can to stop himself crying. He can hear Usnavi sniffling from over the room.  “Are you cryin’?”

“No!” Usnavi says, in a thick voice. “That’s just Sonny. You upset him.”

Sonny burbles, obviously not upset at all. Usnavi sniffs again. Benny’s all of a sudden real tired of this argument, it’s dumb and making them both sad and he don’t wanna sit looking at a wall all night when they could just be back to normal. The apology his mom said he should give sticks in his chest long before it even gets to his mouth, so instead he goes and picks up the crinkly bear and holds it out to Usnavi, a peace offering. “We was playin’ with this earlier and he liked it. It might stop him cryin’?”

Usnavi looks at it for a while, then takes it and puts it in Sonny’s hand. Sonny immediately drops it.

“He don’t really know much about how to play yet, does he?” Benny picks the bear back up and scrunches Sonny’s hand around it with his own like he was doing before. 

“He’s only _little_ ,” Usnavi says defensively. “He’s still learnin’. I’ma teach him how to play, and how to talk and walk and I can make sure nobody’s mean to him at school and I’ll teach him how to— uh, well _I_ probly won’t teach him how to write or read but Nina can do that maybe. He’ll be so smart, and—” he’s lit up while talking about all his future Sonny plans, then dims down again, probably remembering that this kinda conversation is the whole reason they’re fighting in the first place. “Never mind. We don’t gotta talk about that.”

Benny sits on the couch next to Usnavi, taking one of Sonny’s little hands between his thumb and index finger and softly jiggling it up and down like a handshake.“If you and Nina are teachin’ him all that stuff, he’s gotta have someone to teach him about good movies and how to bust open a fire hydrant and all the fun stuff so he grows up cool,” he says nonchalantly. “I guess maybe I could help with that."

“Really?” Usnavi grins brightly when Benny nods, then bounces the baby thoughtfully on his knee and says, “but maybe he shouldn’t come with us to _everything_ , though. He’s too little for adventures, really, his head’s too floppy. We’ll bring him on the easy ones and he can stay home for the bigger ones.” He bites his lip. “Is…is your mom workin’ again tomorrow night, maybe?”

“I think probably maybe she is,” Benny says carefully. Have they stopped fighting now, then? He can’t quite tell.

“And Abuela will probly be too tired after all the babysittin’ today for adventures tomorrow. Right, Abuela?”

“Oh, sí, I'll be exhausted, mijito,” Abuela says, her unexpected reappearance making Benny jump. Benny suspects she was waiting in the kitchen till him and Usnavi fixed things. She’s holding a baby bottle of milk that she passes to Usnavi, who takes it and carefully drips a tiny splash of against the back of his hand. Abuela helps him rearrange Sonny in a better position to be fed and says, “I would love to have Benny visit again, but I’m too old for adventures so if that’s what you’re doing you’d better have him round at your place tomorrow.”

“Yes! Um. I mean, if he wants. Do you?”

“If _you_ want,” Benny shrugs, trying not to sound too eager. Usnavi shrugs back, so Benny shrugs harder and then they both start laughing and Benny is sure they’ve definitely made up. 

Usnavi says, “bueno, tomorrow then. Sonny can’t come, though, we got grown up kid things to do.” He beams at Benny, then at Abuela. “Abuela, me and Benny are gonna teach Sonny how to be cool when he’s older.”

“That’s something to look forward to, then,” she says, fondly fingercombing Usnavi’s hair for a moment. Then, to Benny’s surprise, she turns to him and smooths his curls back off his face a little too, smiling at him in a private way that he thinks means she ain’t gonna tell Usnavi about any of what he said earlier, which is a huge relief. “And all is okay with you, Benny?”

“Yes, Abuela," he says. “Everything’s okay now.”


End file.
